My Italian Greyhound Chelsea lived to eighteen. Not eighteen the way you sometimes hear about a senior dog quietly sleeping in a corner for her final years. Eighteen with a modelling career. Eighteen with one eye, which she lost at seventeen. Eighteen with a quad wheelchair that helped her continue exploring the world beside me. Eighteen with opinions, a full calendar, and an iconic eighteenth birthday party attended by twenty-seven dogs who came to celebrate with her.
People ask me how she made it that far and lived that fully. Some of it was luck. Some of it was Chelsea, who was born refusing to be ordinary. But some of it came from things I learned throughout her senior dog years, often the hard way.
What surprised me most was that her senior years became some of the fullest years of our relationship. The slower pace made room for a different kind of closeness. The adventures looked different, but they never stopped. Neither did the love. As her needs changed, protecting her joy became more important than trying to recreate the life she had before. If anything, our bond grew deeper with every passing year.
If you are loving an aging dog right now, this is what I would want you to know. This article shares my personal experience caring for one senior dog and is not veterinary advice. Every dog is different, so always consult your veterinarian before making changes to your dog’s diet, medications, supplements, monitoring, or treatment.
KNOW WHAT YOUR SENIOR DOG’S BLOODWORK INCLUDES AND WHAT IT DOESN’T
This is one I learned the hard way. I always believed I was doing a complete panel. I would agree to do the bloodwork and move on. Only later did I discover that panels vary and tests I assumed were included sometimes were not.
Thyroid testing, it turns out, is often an additional test or part of a more comprehensive panel rather than something automatically included in standard bloodwork. A total T4 may be used as an initial screening test, but your veterinarian may recommend additional thyroid testing depending on your dog’s symptoms and results.
Chelsea’s thyroid had been monitored as part of her care. When a later test showed that her thyroid levels were low, she was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and started medication. It made me realize how important it is not only to know what’s included in bloodwork, but to keep discussing with your veterinarian how often different tests should be repeated as your dog ages.
What may be perfectly appropriate for your dog at age eight may not be enough at age sixteen. A senior dog can change quickly during their later years, so ask your veterinarian whether bloodwork, urine testing, blood pressure checks, or other monitoring should happen more frequently.
Catching something a few weeks or months earlier can make a meaningful difference. Ask the questions. What is included? Does this bloodwork include thyroid testing? Is the testing schedule still appropriate for where my dog is now?
KEEP A NOTEBOOK ON YOUR SENIOR DOG
I wrote everything down. Test results, weight changes, medication adjustments, and levels that rose or fell over time. I did this because I am naturally organized, but also because nobody else was going to see the entire pattern. A veterinarian sees a snapshot. You live with the film.
That notebook also made me the messenger between Chelsea’s regular veterinarian and her specialists. Ideally, everyone on your team communicates. In reality, that does not always happen. I took detailed notes and carried the information between offices myself. It is unglamorous work. It is also how things get caught.
Ask for copies of every bloodwork result and keep an updated medication list with current doses so you have everything easily accessible if you need to see a specialist or go to an emergency hospital.
THE LITTLE CHANGES ARE CLUES. REPORT THEM.
Anything that changes, even something small or something that seems like it is “probably just age,” should be written down and mentioned. “Probably just age” is where real conditions can hide.
Push for more answers when your gut tells you to push. There were times when Chelsea’s bloodwork came back stable and I still knew she was not herself. I wasn’t always right, but I kept advocating and asking questions. Enough of those instincts turned out to matter that I eventually stopped apologizing for them.
You are not being difficult. You are the one person in the room who has known your dog for a decade or more.
CLOSENESS IS DIAGNOSTIC
Here is the strange gift of spending so much time together. You become the most sensitive instrument your dog has.
Chelsea was a kisser. She was known for her hurricane kisses. At some point, I noticed that her kisses had become dry. That was it. That was the entire clue and that clue sent us back to the veterinarian. Because Chelsea had kidney disease, those dry kisses prompted me to offer her more water. That led to fluid therapy at the veterinary clinic and, eventually, to us giving her subcutaneous fluids at home every day. No test identified the change first. A kiss did.
Spend the time together. Not only because every moment with a senior dog is precious, but because that time is how you learn what is normal for them. Knowing their normal is how you recognize the change.
ADAPT THE HOUSE BEFORE THEY NEED IT ADAPTED
For a dog experiencing mobility changes, small adaptations made early can make a big difference. Rugs can become essential because smooth floors can feel like an ice rink beneath aging legs. Baby gates can also help limit access to areas that may become difficult to navigate.
Eventually, we created a safe little kingdom for Chelsea using a baby playpen that suited her size and needs, with enough room for her bed whenever we had to leave the house. A stroller, supportive slings, her wheelchair, and my arms allowed her to keep experiencing the world as her mobility changed. Staying connected to the world was the entire point. None of this felt like the end of anything to Chelsea. She treated every adaptation as new staff. Whatever changed, she was remarkably good at enjoying what she still had.
CONSIDER THE WIDER TEAM
Depending on your comfort level and your dog’s needs, a veterinary dietitian can be invaluable when managing nutritional needs, especially with conditions such as kidney disease and inflammatory bowel disease.
An integrative veterinarian may also be able to offer additional options for pain and mobility, including rehabilitation, laser therapy, and acupuncture. Chelsea saw her integrative veterinarian every month for years. I credit that team with playing a meaningful part in her making it to eighteen.
In Chelsea’s case, starting rehabilitation before she lost significant strength helped us preserve her mobility and muscle mass for as long as possible.
I should also say plainly what sits beneath all of this advice. Chelsea and I were rarely apart. She was my shadow and I was her person. Every lesson in this article grew out of that closeness. The notebook. The advocacy. The dry kisses. None of it began as a technique. It was simply what paying close attention to someone you love looks like when it’s written down.
People sometimes framed her care as a sacrifice. It never ever felt that way from the inside. It felt like the natural cost of admission to the best company I have ever kept.
AND THE LESSON UNDER ALL OF IT: BE WHERE THEY ARE
Anticipatory grief is real. If you find yourself grieving the loss you know is coming, or mourning the smaller losses while your dog is still beside you such as the walks that have shortened or the stairs they no longer climb, you are not alone. What I would tell you is this: as much as you can, return to the present.
The ordinary days, the time on the couch, the car rides, and the sixth nap in the sun are the things you will ache for most later. Not the milestones. The Wednesdays.
The greatest gift was what those years became. They gave us a depth of trust and companionship that I had never known was possible. Chelsea’s senior years weren’t a long goodbye. They were one of the richest chapters of our life together.
Chelsea’s world changed shape many times. One eye. Four wheels. A slower pace. She never measured her life against what it had been before. She simply lived the version in front of her, fully and with strong opinions about snacks and blankets. She understood how to do that long before I did.
But I learned from the best teacher there is: a small, bossy, extraordinary old dog who understood that age is something that happens to your body, not to who you are. Chelsea passed away in the spring of 2026, shortly after her eighteenth birthday.
Guest post and photos by Lisa Zukerman
****